Noisy Restaurants

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the ways that trendy restaurant design elements like open kitchens, high ceilings, and bare tables can create acoustical nightmares for restaurateurs, as well some tricks used to keep the noise down. While adding acoustic pannels and sound absorbing materials can certainly help, a designer for L20 in Chicago explains that he fixed a noisy spot by adjusting their iPod to only play music without lyrics and songs with less than 100 beats per minute. As a fun bonus, the article also includes sound clips from the host podiums and dining rooms of SF's La Mar, LA's Rush Street, and NYC's SD26 [WSJ via Eater National]